Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/390

 she arose softly, and making no sound, stole out of the house.

"The moon was at the full, very bright and vivid, so that the girl found it an easy matter to pick her way out of the village and into the forest; and though our people, men and women alike, love not to journey into the forest alone, even during the daytime, Hô- doh was this night wholly devoid of fear. Also she was impelled by something within her to gather up the shreds of Pa' Ah-Gap's loin-clout, pressirg them to her lips and nose, for the contact with the rough bark cloth seemed to cool a little the burning pain within her. Thus she followed in the path which Pa' Ah-Gap, the Sâkai, had trodden, travelling on and on alone till the inoonlight was wrestling with the yellow of the dawn. The shreds of loin- clout grew fewer and fewer, each piece at a greater distance than the last; but only by their aid was sho able to assuage the pain consuming her, and so they led her on and on.

"The sun had come to life when at length sha came out of the jungle on to a big clearing, in which the Sâkai had planted a catch-crop, and in the centre of it were the rude huts in which the forest dwellers herd. At the foot of the low ladder lead- ing to the first of these, and facing the track by which she had come, sat Pa' Ah-Gap, waiting for her.

"He sat quite still, looking at her with eyes that mocked; and of a sudden she knew that only the embrace of this man would extinguish the magic